Beginnings
by Auburn Divinity
Summary: When a pilot’s EX wanes or he is too injured to fight he must be replaced.
1. Chapter 1

_No one could answer the innumerable questions that surrounded the immense human-shaped machine that came to be known as the White Goddess. They only knew it was the first to be built and the only one completed. There were others in existence, but their creators had vanished before they were finished. In total there were five Ingrids, all fashioned in a similar manner, yet all distinctly different. _

_It was soon discovered that these goddesses would be the only hope for mankind to save Zion. The search for someone to pilot them in battle had begun before anyone had realized the importance of those chosen. It was a grueling task to find a person to pilot a weapon that had never been tested: a hunt that started before the Ingrids were even finished. _

_In a time when people were evacuating the planet of Zion, when many failed to see hope in fighting an alien form know as Victim, these future warriors were gathered in space. Five were needed and five were found, all young men, mere boys; maybe the only ones foolish enough to attempt the dicey assignment. On a satellite orbiting the planet they were trained for a brief time; a pressing few months when they did little but eat, sleep, and simulate battles._

_After the final modifications to the outsides of the Ingrids were made the young men were directed down the catwalk and escorted to their assigned vessel. The technicians, who had been working as speedily as they could, matched the boys to the goddesses according to the skills they had displayed during the past months. _

_The young man stood, peering up at the towering form of the machine he was to pilot. "It's huge! I've never seen anything like it," he announced in a tone of complete astonishment._

"_She."_

_The teenage boy forced his vision to part from the machine in a hope to see the owner of the voice. A platform lowered itself as it rotated around the body of the Ingrid, coming to a level position with the bridge._

"_What? Who?"_

"_Ernn Laties." The man gestured towards the White Goddess. "_**She** _is huge and you've never seen anything like _**her**_."_

"_I wasn't aware that machines had gender."_

"_Young men are always unaware of many simple things. It is in their nature to ignore some of the everyday facts that are so clear to others." He smiled and, jumping over the railing to land with slight difficulty on the bridge, hypothesized, "I guess I'm just a little too old to be doing that."_

_The boy looked at the Ingrid once more, carefully examining every aspect of what was exposed to his vision. Its white frame held a decidedly feminine form; large red designs adorned its face and shoulder guards._

"_I am sorry sir. She is beautiful. But why bother to form her so artistically, it is just a machine?"_

_Smiling, the man replied, "If you continue to refer to her as a 'machine' and fail to see that there is more to Ernn Laties than metal you will never get along." He chuckled at the confused expression on the soon-to-be-pilot's face, "In answer to your question, no one knows why they were formed this way. I am sure even her builders could not fully comprehend what they were doing. They were pawns of some higher force; connected somehow, feeding of off another source of intelligence." _

_The last part of his speech wasn't directed towards anyone. It was as if he was asking the goddess, making sure his assumptions of her creation were correct. His broad shoulders relaxed a bit as he watched the face of Ernn Laties, it never changed. He sighed, a steady flow of air that held his reservations about letting such a young man pilot the Ingrid; one long breath that showed his age and his own longing to take her into battle himself. _

"_Sit, Kuro." He almost barked the order after a long pause. The young man jumped at the harsh tone and did as he was told._

"_Who are you?" Kuro questioned the elderly man._

-

It seemed to Kuro that that day was eons ago: perhaps with everything that had happened in that time, all the battles, all the changes, it could only be viewed as a passing of ages. The months since Chane had left stretched on and on, but they could not extend indefinitely. He missed the elderly man every time _that woman_ approached him. Ernn Laties' replacement technician was an outstanding mechanic her skills where evident to all those on board the ship; in spite of that the contrasts were still too strong.

Reigha's smooth contoured face only served to remind Kuro of the old man's jetting jaw and chiseled cheek bones. He imagined that Ernn Laties would prefer to have Chane's hands, warm and weathered, with the dark backs and cream colored palms, working on her than the young woman's.

"Maintenance complete, the damage to the left arm is repaired," Reigha explained, fingers dancing over the keyboard as she made a final check of the data. She leapt from the platform and joined Kuro on the catwalk. "Ernn Laties really is an exceptional thing."

One more difference between Chane and Reigha, he would never have referred to the goddess as a 'thing', or even an 'exceptional thing.' Kuro glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "She is."

"Whoever made the circuitry is a real genius. I wish I could learn from them." She had a one track mind—mechanics; Reigha lived to figure out what made mechanical things work. The hanger lapsed into a silence that was only interrupted by the muffled sounds of machinery.

Someone approached them, clearing his throat to gain their attention. It seemed both repairer and pilot expected his arrival, Reigha left without being asked and Kuro didn't even turn around to greet the newcomer.

His countenance expressed pure authority; his presence demanded respect though his mannerisms were always friendly. An aged man but somehow he purveyed the appearance of being in his prim. Cheerful, reserved, and in control, Micha Latzki never passed unnoticed. Kuro knew the conversation that would follow, memorized the questions that no doubt would come. The old man and the youth who had just entered manhood stood in stony silence, neither dreading nor anticipating what each inevitably understood would happen.

"So I hear Ernn Laties is going to be fine," Mr. Latzki flashed a congenial grin.

"All the damage has been repaired."

"You're the last one."

"Yes." Kuro knew all too well that he was the last of the original five pilots still able to fight in the Ingrid; he had been there as every encounter with Victim caused increasing injuries and growing damage. He had observed when the old technicians had been replaced by repairers, who rapidly developed into the pilots' counterparts. Kuro watched as a few likely pilots steadily blossomed into an overflowing class of many students in structured training sessions to do battle with victim.

"Your EX. is waning."

"I know."

"We have an excellent candidate for her next pilot." The elderly man paused, waiting for a reaction. "He'll be ready to enter the cock-pit in a short time. There are still a few tests he needs to complete, once everything is cleared you'll be there to observe."

It was an order but with Mr. Latzki it never sounded mandatory, though no one had ventured to find out what happened when his orders weren't followed.

"Yes."

Micha smiled again, almost shyly, "He won't need to take you're place im…"

Kuro tartly cut him off, "I understand everything."

The so-called tests were a precaution newly founded to prevent any repetition of the terrible incident when the first replacement pilot for the orange Ingrid entered the cock-pit. After a month in the infirmary the young man was still hardly responsive to the Doctors' therapy; eventually he had regained enough health to live normally on one of the colonies. All the members of the goddess army realized then that it could have turned out much worse; a few others had been rejected by the Ingrids before, but none of them had been hurt so severely.

Kuro wondered how his fellow pilots had entered the newly completed Ingrids without complications and why, with them, had problems only started when their EX was fading. He was the only original pilot left, and, as with the other four, his EX had dimmed. Kuro was feeling the strain of battle more acutely; injury and damage happened more frequently. Reflecting on memories, Kuro was thinking that perhaps it was taking too long to find someone to take his place and that it was strange how at such a young age he felt like a relic.

"Come on, Kuro." Reigha had found him on the observation deck, still traversing through the passages of his mind, the venue of his thoughts as changing as the white clouds of Zion clearly seen through the window.

Walking in subdued silence, they joined the small party gathered around the White Goddess. Kuro spotted the pilot nominee right away; a blond-haired, blue-eyed conspicuous presence among the other familiar faces. He seemed like such a child, though Kuro had also been that young when first escorted down the cat-walk and introduced to Ernn Laties. They exchanged less-than-formal greetings; Reigha with an abundant amount of information to relay. She was several years Kuro's senior, but not enough to be considered old, yet next to this youth she positively looked like a doting mother-figure.

"Everything seems to be proceeding well?" Mr. Latzki questioned after a brief time had passed.

Reigha responded immediately, eyes reading the screen, "He has entered the cockpit without any complications, but the scanners are taking longer to respond than it should."

"Ern Laties is behaving normally?"

"Yes." For someone new to the goddess' system it would naturally take longer for the body and mind to link with the Ingrid. Reigha was accustomed to the nearly instant synchronization of Kuro and Ernn Laties and the time that now lapsed was filled with 'what-ifs;' 'what if the tests had been wrong?', 'what if he wasn't combatable with Ernn Laties?', 'what if his body was having an adverse reaction?'

"Kuro, how is he doing?" The elderly man called to the youth positioned near the cockpit.

Reaching his hand into the gelatinous substance, Kuro made sure Shia was calm, without any threat of injury.

"It's so dark in here." No fear leaked into this statement of fact.

"Can you still see out the open hatch?" Kuro questioned.

"Yes, but it's dim and blurry."

"The scanning and connection is complete, everything is clear." Ryoko informed her companion. "Mr. Latzki shall we close the cockpit?"

The elderly man nodded.

Speaking directly through the link to the Ingrid, she quickly told Shia her objective, "You can hear me now. We're going to close the doors, the darkness will be absolute but it should clear momentarily. If anything doesn't feel right tell me"

"Understood."

Kuro removed his hand from the gel-like wall and with a slight push urged the doors to close. As foretold the immense darkness was absolute but it soon vanished and Shia could see the inside of the hanger as though there were nothing to block his view.

"Everything is still progressing smoothly?"

"Yes," Reigha answered Micha. "Shia, try to move the hand."

"Yes ma'am." Shia heard minor grumblings to his statement. He tried to fulfill Reihga's command but when Shia moved, as he had been instructed to, a pulsing sensation, like the pounding when a nerve ending is hit, numbed all other feelings in his hand. When he tried to move again his vision became unclear, he couldn't tell what was happening and the pain was spreading.

Reigha typed quickly, doing everything in order to solve the problem. "His heart rate in increasing, but so is the tuning."

In the Ingrid there remained only a fuzzy light and some blurred colors from the outside. Shia closed his eyes trying to steady his beating heart; he opened them again to find a dim blue glow.

"It looks like everything has gone back to normal," Reigha informed everyone.

The boy in the cockpit moved again, a strong electrical current flowed through his body. Shia screamed as the stinging grew stronger.

"Abort!" Kuro shouted, "Get him out of there!"

Reigha typed in the commands and the cockpit opened. Shia rushed for that new light, stumbling out of the Ingrid. Kuro helped to ease the panting boy into a sitting position and remained kneeling beside him until the others had joined them.

"What happened?"

"She wouldn't let him," was Kuro's cryptic reply to Reigha's frantic question.

"What are you talking about, he was doing fine. What happened?"

Micha put his hand gently on the girls shoulder. "We'll worry about that latter. Right now Kuro should take Shia to the infirmary."


	2. Chapter 2

"You've rejected them all." This sad and disconsolate accusation carried all of the amounting hopelessness stacking ever higher with each one that was turned away.

"Yes. I couldn't…" There was no way to explain. All the words in her vocabulary, any color, shape, or image she could hold, no matter what combinations she used, would never be able to clarify.

Her sisters were there sitting before her waiting patiently: calm, strong, comforting presences. They existed in the scattered memories of worlds long ago destroyed; created in the disillusioned dreams of people centuries gone, perished hopes given ethereal life.

"We can't fight with one missing."

"We can feel their fear," Helteage added.

"Teela, could it be that we are the ones who are wrong?" Clear, innocent eyes, deep brown irises the color of rich soil, looked up from her round earnest face as Silfee motioned for the other girl to sit beside her.

"No, this is what has to be done." Sounding unsure Teela walked forward, joining the girls sitting in the grass. A breeze danced along the green hills of the fabricated landscape; a scene pieced together from imagined summer days. Warm and playful it leapt through the spreading boughs of the ancient tree, rustling the leaves, causing the shadows to shift, then continuing on its merry way to gently caress the girls' hair.

Silfee slipped her hand into her sister's, entwining their pale slender fingers, and softly asked, "Then is it that you no longer wish to fight?"

"No... Dear sister, I will continue to fight." Leaning over Teela rested her head on the other girl's shoulder and closing her eyes, whispered, "Together, we will fight."

"But...he…" Silfee started.

"He is growing too weak."

"Eila's right, you are having to use your power more and more, having to make your connection stronger."

"We know he can still fight—is still willing," Eila bent forward to touch her sister consolingly, but let her hand fall, "yet he shouldn't."

Teela bowed her head, shielding her eyes from the other's gaze. "I know Kuro is not strong enough. It just…"

"Feels like he's fading," Eila finished for her, in a tone as soft as the rustling leaves.

Helteage reached out from behind the quiet girl. Wrapping her arms around delicate shoulders to pull Eila to her chest, she allowed the girl to lie back into her embrace. Resting her cheek on the silky hair, Helteage looked at Teela reassuringly. "We know as well what it means to be attached to something so frail. To give up someone you were never intended to care that deeply for."

Shocked, Teela quickly turned to face her sister, feeling an overwhelming need to defend herself. "My feelings for Kuro are no more than what is appropriate."

With a small smile Eila added, "And perhaps that is where we are mistaken. Judging our feelings and theirs, but not knowing."

Silfee continued the musing, "To sense their fears, their triumphs and never know what it really is."

"How are we..." Teela questioned, "How can we?"

"Meaningless justifications."

Teela answered with a weak laugh, "I just don't know."

"There is a way."

-

Kuro walked past the four other Ingrids, barely aware that they were on the ship, his mind too consumed with his own clouded thoughts. He stopped in front of the White Goddess, pausing to stare into her face before turning to lean against the railing. Lowering himself to sit on the ground, Kuro sighed and tugged the hem of his shirt to pull it down and smooth out the wrinkles.

"You've rejected everyone so far. Will you also refuse the others that will come?"

The Kuro sitting before Ernn Laties now had changed considerably, even in the time that had passed since trying to find a new pilot the young man's appearance had altered. His face had thinned from that baby-like boy's that had first entered the cockpit. He'd grown taller, keener, his eyes deeper, more intense, as though they could see and understand so much more than any mortal's should.

"We can't stay like this forever Ernn Laties, it's too long." He looked at his hand, remembering the pale light that reflected off of them while in the Ingrid, the feeling as he spread his fingers and the goddess did the same. "So what are we doing, holding on like this?"

The White Goddess had been absent from the last skirmish and called in only as a final precaution in the battle prior to that. Kuro had felt the spirit of the Ingrid so much stronger lately; almost hear her, like she was chanting: "There is a way. But for now, like this, we'll fight a little longer." These words were etched in his mind as though written there: the forgotten lyrics of a lost and fading song. Though the prospects of finding a new pilot still proved just as fruitless, Kuro accepted that somehow it would resolve itself, and although it meant he was no longer needed on GIS it was a tolerable knowledge. He ceased to grow restless when restricted from participating in the war against Victim.

"Attention! All personnel report to battle stations. Victim spotted heading towards Zion."

Riegha joined Kuro in front of Ernn Laties. She looked as though she had resigned to a relaxing time of having absolutely nothing to do—which in a way was true; her duties had declined drastically, and perhaps she resented that, just a little. One of the other repairers, pretty, young, and new, condescendingly waved at her, and Reigha returned the gesture with a grimace.

"Clearance approved. Launch!"

Each Ingrid was catapulted from the ship in turn, pilots accustomed to the procedure. The Blue vessel took the lead, the others fanning out in a V formation behind it.

"The victim are in blue sector, eleven type-R confirmed, nearly thirty other various types as well. Relaying fastest route."

"Understood." the pilots answered in unison. R type victim were the biggest alien form known to the goddess crew, their thick magenta skin proving rather difficult to pierce.

Inside the white Ingrid, Kuro patiently waited listening to everything the others said, disregarding the usual jests and boasting the pilots sometime used to set themselves at ease.

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Kuro, more attentive to the happenings outside, was clueless as to what Reigha was talking about.

"Just sit in there," Reigha clarified.

"Talent."

"Thanks for that all-important wisdom."

"You're welcome."

"You don't have to be such a smug jerk about it."

Kuro had stopped paying attention to his partner, it wasn't as though what she said had any significance, what mattered was the current battle, but it had not yet begun in earnest.

Arden sent out the shields and they all waited for the enemy to continue in its predictable course, heading straight for them and Zion. Seconds died quickly and the first of the smaller victim, that seemed to be heading the horde, was within firing range; one blast and it was defeated. Rapidly closing in on another victim the blue Ingrid delivered a fatal blow. With amazing agility the red vessel terminated a third. Several of the remaining r-types veered away from the battle, but had not changed course enough to appear like they were retreating. These victim were now gaining speed, the lager magenta forms now taking the lead of about half the others, obviously heading toward a new target.

"What's happening?" Someone from GIS asked.

"They may be heading for something, a ship," Whittaker answered, straining to see the vessel more clearly. "It's a transport shuttle. What's it doing here?"

"Why would victim attack a colony shuttle?"

"We'll finish with these first," Ravi ordered.

The orange Ingrid pulled in its shield and flew away from the group.

"What are you doing?" In the position of leader by default, Ravi was shocked that his command wasn't followed, not that it was mandatory for the others to obey, but an explanation before acting was something expected, almost required; all the others would have. Though the pilot of the blue vessel was just as reckless, he too would have said something first.

"I think I should go, just in case." Arden continued heading toward the colony transport shuttle.

"Whatever? Be careful."

Two more victim were skillfully executed by the red Ingrid, "Shall I go too?"

Before Kieran's answer came there was a flash of light and a wave of energy, the green Ingrid turned, the pilot's hair glowing slightly, "They _are_ heading for the ship. Arden can't hold that many off."

One of the alien forms crashed into the back of the green goddess sending it spinning, Whittaker quickly regained his position with a reminder to be more attentive.

"What are you doing?" Reigha called to Kuro, in an agitated tone. "You haven't been cleared."

Ernn Laties was backing away from the catwalk, and Kuro was preparing to launch. "Then get clearance—Quick! I'm leaving, you have five seconds."

His repairer furiously, possibly too furiously, typed in the correct codes and contacted the others. Reigha's voice carried the authority of necessity as she responded harshly, "Ernn Laties joining the battle, launch cleared."

The White Goddess was a mere streak as it flew through the darkness of space to join the orange Ingrid in defending the transport shuttle. With one fluid movement Kuro had placed himself near the ship, facing his opponent. Shouting a command, he flung his arm forward and Ernn Laties did the same, rushing forward and piercing the first victim's skin as easily as if it were wet paper.

"Hey Kuro, thanks," Arden encouraged him. The orange goddess' shield was out and holding but with the continued hammering of several alien forms it would soon crack, and the one the white Ingrid had just terminated might have been able to slip through.

The red goddess darted through the victim, striking two R-types as it went, but not delivering a vital blow, Kuro finished them. "The others will be here soon."

The victims continued fervently trying to break through the shield; a single mindedness driving them toward the shuttle. With the three goddesses the defense was managing to hold and the enemy's numbers were rapidly dwindling but the pilots all knew that the balance was precariously tilting away from them. True to Kieran's words the others were soon there, though nearly too late. With only a few type-R remaining in the battle, one had managed to wiggle through the shield, its viscous blood seeping from a deep gouge in its side. Injured but determined, it rammed the ship, denting the hull and making it tilt slightly; a goddess carefully fired killing the alien before it could strike again. Whittaker shot at one last victim, the creature, oblivious to the goddess's actions, sped on.

Arden pulled in the shields completely, rushing toward the shuttle, racing with it. In a final attempt to stop the enemy the orange Ingrid lunged into its side. "Shoot it now."

The others obeyed his command, sending insignificant pieces of alien drifting through space as he pushed away. Unable to correct his spin in time, Arden crashed into Kuro, causing them both to collide with the fractured transport shuttle, putting the final strain on the battered hull and puncturing the metal wall. Pressurized air jetted out from the rigged gap, bits of the shattered mettle separated and flew out.

Being the possessor of a vast vocabulary, Ravi let fly a long string of profanities as the others watched in silent horror while the force of the air slowly enlarged the hole.

"Do something!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Is there anyone in there?" The concerned repairer waved her hand in front of the dazed pilot's face.

"I'm here," Ravi answered from the floor, long limbs stretched across the catwalk, "And I'm not moving, let them step on me if I'm in the way."

The pilot of the green Ingrid placed a foot lightly on the young man's chest and asked the others, "Shall we find someplace else to rest? We won't get any more information for awhile."

"Great Whit, just abuse and abandon a man too tired to move. You to Reigha—be my guest."

Reigha smiled but didn't accept his offer. She placed a palm flat on Kuro's forehead, the other she rested on her own.

"Che! Acting like that in front of everyone, how shameful. Completely disgraceful," Ravi complained.

"Oh hush," Reigha chided the pilot of the blue Ingrid.

"Don't you think it's disgraceful, Kieran?"

The young boy stared down at the other pilot with perceptive cerulean eyes, "No."

"Well it is."

"Especially when he's around to pay homage to," Whittaker supplied with a smirk.

"Do you really need the attention?" Kieran asked.

Injured, Ravi replied, "Yes, I do."

"Such shamefulness," the pilot of the red suit sat on Ravi's stomach and ran the tips of his slender fingers across the youth's cheek.

"So! You're the one who's been teaching Whit to be a pain," he accused with a knowing grin. "And how can you do something like this without even smiling. Your face is so damn calm, almost sickly sweet."

"Shall I?" Kieran simply questioned, blinking.

"What?"

"He wants to know if he should smile," Whit sai. "I wonder what you'll answer."

"No, there should be a sneer on his smug, round face; but never a smile, that's just too much." Ravi shoved the shorter boy off and continued, "I'm not talking to either of you again. In fact I don't feel it's worth talking to any people ever. I'll just lie here. What do you think of that, Whittaker?"

"I think you're face is more like a circle than Kieran's. So you shouldn't call his round."

Arden joined the small group, the light smile he always wore on his lips growing as he watched them, "What's going on?"

"A temper tantrum because nap-time was interrupted." Reigha leaned against the railing, "Anything new to share?"

"Ummm, no, not really," he looked to the ceiling. "Nothing new, the higher-ups still haven't decided or said anything and the meds. aren't quite finished examining everyone. So I don't really know if there's much to say?"

"Most likely they'll just board them on another shuttle and send them to whatever colony they were heading to," Whit theorized.

"That's what makes most sense but it will take time for one to get here, GIS doesn't have one big enough to transport them all," Reigha added.

"The infirmary is full so they're going to have as many GIS people share sleeping quarters as possible so they can split up the rest of the shuttle survivors comfortably."

"How many are there?"

"Nearly thirty left to find beds for."

Ravi grabbed the Arden's ankle. "So they're really from Zion, all of them lived on that planet. I wonder what it's like."

Nobody said anything in answer to the boy's musings. Since the Goddesses had returned from the battle nothing had been quiet, and as this silence between them grew they realized that the sounds all around were just abstract noises and nothing had seemed real. When they had succeeded in meeting GIS with the shuttle shielded by the Ingrids, the fragile ship barely able to hold with their help, none of them spoke any more than to give instructions or to answer questions. Doctors, repairers, and crew had rushed to help the injured passengers, to bring them aboard. Hours had passed and the reality was just barely hardening, yet what they had just been talking about was substantial, not serious, not meant to be life-altering, but a conversation somehow tangible, the only thing since returning that showed them anything vaguely real.

None of the pilots, in fact no current member of the crew on board the vessel had lived on Zion; the planet that they were devoting their entire lives to protect. These people, who had survived a direct attack from victim, were evacuating a planet and still even though everyone had abandoned the many lands of Zion the Goddesses, pilots, and all those who had chosen to be there would fight, because someday the shuttle passengers expected to return home. So many people now living in colonies wanted, someday, the choice to live on that planet.

Ravi sat up. "Well I'm off, I'll go mingle and see what I can find out, offer my room, see what small comfort I can supply. It will be difficult to find out what Zion's like but I'll do it. And it wouldn't hurt if I questioned a few pretty girls." He sauntered away, waving a hand over his shoulder and calling back, "I hope you know I'm doing this all for your benefit."

"I really doubt that," Arden told the others, "but I guess it's a good thing that he can keep such a carefree attitude."

If any of the other pilots had tried to carry a similarly flippant mood it would have been instantly seen for the pretense that it was. Kuro wondered if Ravi's mannerisms were truly genuine or as falsely fabricated as everything else seemed to be. He flexed his fingers, remembering. Ernn Laties' hand, just visible in his peripheral vision, didn't move with the small motion, though the pilot could still clearly see it in his mind as if he were still in the cockpit, still out in empty space as if the last battle had not ended. Looking at the others, Kuro knew that they too would take longer to forget this skirmish. Being with them, hours in and out, weeks and months past, he had learned this, understood the other pilots as much as anyone could; just like a remainder of the first fight as a Goddess pilot stayed always, some of the memories of this battle would never be completely dismissed.

Reigha watched Kuro, while continuing the friendly chatter with the others. By unspoken agreement no one asked any questions about what had happened out there, leaving the repairer to glean what little information that was volunteered. She supposed the boys were entitled to keep to themselves anything they wanted, but it didn't stop her from worrying. 'And really,' she thought as she excused herself from the group, 'he is too quiet today.'

Before he had completely pulled himself from his thoughts Reigha was gone and Kieran was walking away with Whit, both pilots' casual stride matching perfectly without effort. For a brief moment Kuro debated whether he should join them or not, then he looked at Arden, the shorter boy's back to him as he leaned over the railing of the catwalk. The orange Goddess's pilot closed and opened his hand, slowly curling each of his fingers in and then spreading them out. Kuro wondered if Arden was feeling the same way as when, minutes ago, he had made the same movement, missing the synchronization of the Ingrid.

The noise of the repairers working went on unhindered as Kuro took a few steps closer to Arden, adopting a similar pose at the railing. Relatively, at present, the Goddess hanger was one of the quietest places on board GIS, without being entirely silent. The virtually regular sounds of machinery were somewhat comforting. Both young men stayed several more minutes in mutual observation of the small undertakings, leaving together to wander the hallways when their continued, unnecessary presence was noticed. The absence of speech was neither uncomfortable nor uninvited, but it was felt, and perhaps the words were even missed.

Arden and Kuro stopped their leisurely meanderings after someone rushed out of the infirmary, cutting across their path and speeding in the direction they had come from. Kuro's attention was held by something that the closed doors now hid. He stepped backwards and leaned against the opposite wall, arms folded across his chest.

"Eight," the younger boy loudly whispered, giving Kuro a quick but expansive smile, one that was neither made of nervous shyness nor just an entirely Arden expression, but almost made of apologies.

"Eight," Kuro repeated in a reverent tone, "And her?"

Arden followed the older boy's gaze, knowing what Kuro was asking. "I don't know. We could go in and see," he offered, unsure.

Nodding, Kuro pushed away from the wall.

The pilots were well acquainted with the infirmary: the sterile smell, the cool smooth metal surfaces, the competent staff, and the unwelcoming equipment. Not far from where they had entered, occupying one of the beds was the subject of their brief interview in the hallway; surrounded by machines, motionless, tubes, tape and wires, sticking out all over. They looked around at the other people in the other beds, all with various degrees of injuries, but none with a many monitors, or beeping and moving contraptions.

Instead of trying to find someone to talk to the two pilots moved to the side, keeping a respectful distance and waiting for someone to either send them away or answer their questions. One of the doctors approached them, greeting Kuro and Arden in an overly familiar manner, congenial smiles and obliging cordiality despite obvious fatigue.

"That was useless," Kuro mumbled, mostly to the translucent reflection in the window, trying to vent some of his building frustration. "It was completely pointless for the doctor to even talk to us. Why didn't they just chase us out?"

Though they asked about everything they wanted to learn and all their questions were answered the two pilots still felt unsatisfied. In his opinion the complete ignorance they had been in might not have been bliss but it certainly had been less aggravating. Ernn Laties' pilot didn't lift his forehead form the cool glass pane as he grumbled more complaints, using perhaps more woods than he had in quite awhile, except for in the infirmary. "Eight," Arden's one pathetic word interrupted Kuro's muttered disconnected chain. "Eight people died and it's all my fault."

When, leaving the infirmary, they had walked straight to this place Kuro hadn't paused to find a reason for Arden's continued presence. To both pilots it felt natural, perhaps needed, to see if Zion was still there, nearly always visible from at least one of the many windows aboard the vessel. Kuro had allowed himself, for a fraction of a time during his murmuring, to assume that Reigha had encouraged the younger pilot to stay with him out of some necessity to show her unwanted worry. He would never have admitted that it was guilt that had prompted Arden to stay and listen to all that the doctor had told them. Not once could Kuro fathom that Arden was to blame.

Blame, Ernn Laties' pilot realized, was the annoying emotion that kept surfacing through the feelings of frustration and the underlying sense of his own uselessness; those self pitying thoughts of being outmoded; a thing to be replaced at the earliest possible date. What good would have come of giving them voice? Would it have made them less or more of a burden? Anything he said wouldn't have cheered either pilot; there was nothing, no right choice of words, to cure this.

Sure, in his mind, that in his earlier days as a pilot he could have stopped both the Ingrids from colliding with the shuttle, Kuro sighed a barely audible, "No."

Before his EX had waned Kuro knew that he could fight in the Ingrid a little longer, just long enough, but that time was spent. Micha's too true and heavy words "You're the last one," now emblazoned over every thought. Before, that was ages ago now. That sureness of being able to solve everything seemed to never at anytime been valid.


	4. Chapter 4

Gods, those creatures of incomprehensible wisdom, both young and ancient, the farseeing twisters of destiny whose humor it pleases to, on occasion, reach out and tease a thread in one of the many tangled knots of the universe had done so again. Or so it would seem, if these thoughts, these stories, and memories were pure. Whose were they? What parts were the truths of times gone and which were tales told on sleepless nights? Of the whole where were the fabricated facts of wild imaginings mixed in?

'I was one—am one' she thought. 'Have I called out, touched a string and changed everything.'

Goddesses, the Ingrids had been labeled so by men; the machinery joined seamlessly with an untainted power, though perhaps only thought of as lesser deities. Yet they were separate entities, Teela and her sisters, beings able to draw upon emotions and memories to create a place, capable of taking a solid form there. Alive within the visions of summer days, among the ever-changing growing things, the five girls were more substantial in that plane of reality than in any other.

"There is a way," her sisters had said. When they had gathered, the most recent conversation had been more serious and more one-sided than many of the others held between the sisters; but it was decided—almost. The plaintive tone, the patient explanation, the faint hints of hope mingling in a long and multipart discussion that had led to a shaky resolve; and Teela had acted on that decision—calling softly.

Teela reached out, pulling a long lock of hair over the other girl's shoulder. Raking her slender fingers through the slightly coarse, thick strands to the ends, she let them fall in a slow cascade. Perhaps this recollection of gods who played purposefully with the intertwining threads was hers. In some distant time maybe this girl had pulled the string and not the spirit of Ernn Laties.

Was it really a chance turn of fate or a seen opportunity used to its fullest? Should it be so hard to believe that when Teela reached out there was something tangible there; an answer to at least one question she could touch?

"A little longer, there is a way." Kuro had responded to the temporary solution, accepting that little hope in the many battles since they had started testing boys to find his replacement.

This was what everyone was waiting for what all those people wanted; the strands of one knot braiding together. And still, somewhere, someone, something hesitated. Teela breathed slowly in, everything appeared to have frozen; holding perfectly still in the indefinite moment.

They wanted the same thing, Teela and the girl standing in front of her; more time and a chance to protect the last precious planet. This girl had quietly accepted Teela's presence, acknowledged the voices and opinions of the spirits' sisters, with long thought and a full understanding she had conceded to the terms given. Knowing that the created realm of rolling hills and dancing winds where the goddesses gathered would not be hers, nor perhaps Teela's again, they had agreed. It seemed Zion too wanted this, leaving a part of the planet with her, the slight salty smell of the ocean, faint but filled with a briefly intoxicating remembrance of crashing waves, and the feeling of a sea breeze.

Teela laced her fingers with the other girl's, lifting their hands, bringing them to shoulder level, silently asking again if this was what needed to happen.

Turning to look and curving her own fingers to match the spirit of Ernn Laties the girl timorously answered, "I will fight."

"I will not show our fear," Teela responded, taking the girl's other hand in a similar manner, leaning forward and closing her eyes. As she rested her forehead against the cool forehead of the girl, Teela felt her sisters' support, saw them vividly under the same shade tree they gathered around so frequently.

-

Though no alarm had sounded, nor had an announcement to engage victim blared over the speakers, the tumult of shipmates in the hall had been enough to wake Kuro from his fitful slumber. Rubbing the remnants of partially remembered, disconcerting dreams from his eyes the pilot dressed and left his room. At times, sleep was an ill afforded commodity aboard GIS and Kuro felt like he hardly missed it: even though he looked like he could use a little more. Something still played in the recesses of his mind. A minor inconspicuous thought that he had been unable to smooth away as easily as his dreams. This small inkling, a nearly certain belief, telling Kuro he knew why people were speeding down the hallways.

Ernn Laties' pilot drifted toward the hub of the commotion. Reigha along with Arden and Kieran were there talking softly just past the door to the infirmary. The anteroom was surprisingly void of people; other than the pilots and repairer there was only the doctor and a rather twig-like older woman. In the other areas a few of the shuttle survivors, still confined to beds, had propped themselves up or were craning their necks to look through doorways and see what was happening. The other medical staff came and went at increasingly long intervals. Kuro watched the thin woman pace. Behind him the door opened and Kuro stepped aside.

The woman stopped her cycle of ward-door, opposite wall, desk, and asked, "Have you found Zenenet yet?"

Hearing the worry in her shaky voice, the newcomer glanced at the others and sadly shook his head then waited for someone else to say something.

Again the anxious woman started on the same path, door, wall, desk, repeating it methodically. The eyes always seek confirmation, and Kuro was in no way surprised that when he did look the bed nearest the ward-door was empty. The bed easiest to observe from almost anywhere in the infirmary, where the girl had been lying, unmoving, unresponsive, for over two weeks, was vacant. Things resumed their quiet static state, hushed whispers, watching expectant faces, the door, far wall, desk, pacing, for a few more measured minutes.

"How long has Zenenet been gone?" Kuro questioned Arden in the same barely audible tone the others were using.

"I don't know we were on the observation deck when Kieran noticed them searching." the younger boy answered. "But this is impossible. She couldn't have moved."

Impossible, Zenenet leaving the infirmary on her own was anything but possible. The teen had not moved more than a twitch or shown any signs of cognitive skills since Kuro had carried her to GIS in the massive hands of the White Goddess. Arden understood this all. He had visited the infirmary regularly, perhaps to appease a sense of guilt, and the pilot of the orange Ingrid was aware of every change. Kuro knew this because he too had frequented the medical rooms. The two pilots had been there when they removed the pipes and tubes that had been breathing for her, and one of them was there as the doctors slowly detached all the other devices from Zenenet's body.

Every time any of the pilots or repairers came it was the same, the girl lie still and pale, seemingly frozen; her eyes closed, her arms at her side, the slight movement of her chest rhythmically rising and falling. When they entered, the old woman would slowly stand and retreat to another room in the infirmary, she never spoke to them nor on their side had they tried to talk to her. After several such visits, when all the equipment had been taken away, the elderly lady approached each visitor in turn, simply stating, "Her name is Zenenet Asyri."

Shortly after that the doctor had informed Kuro that while her heart beat and she could breathe without assistance the girl would never wake. Theoretically every muscle should function normally, he had continued to say, but she had lost the ability to connect a thought to a movement, her conscious thoughts were in essence trapped, even their machines barely managed to detect their existence. Kuro had chosen not to share this knowledge, assuming that the Doctor had also told at least one of the others who had continued to check on the girl. The pilot knew nothing more. Reigha had tried to get the elderly lady to share more information about Zenenet, hoping that her long silence might be over. Through all the repairer's cajoling she gained nothing; though Kuro was privileged to hear everything she didn't learn from Reigha herself.

"She was the last." The women broke the silence that had grown sharper after Arden answered Kuro's question.

A little dumbstruck, the small group could only stare. Her words, 'the last,' poked at the vividly volatile visions that Kuro woke from a fraction of an hour earlier. They stirred up startling images from the frothing mixture of current events; the most unsettling he couldn't be sure weren't just dreamt. Still more disquieting, were the whispered assurances that he knew somehow it was okay and the sad voice echoing, 'I found the way.'

"I stayed because Zenenet wouldn't leave," the elderly woman was saying as Kuro turned to leave.

Reigha grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"To find Zenenet."

"You'll only get in the way," Reigha scolded, as if speaking to a child who was always underfoot.

Ignored by the pilot and repairer, the shuttle survivor continued, "I was too old it didn't matter, but she. Everyone we knew had already left for the colonies, but…"

"They'll find her," Arden comforted the older women gently.

Walking out the door the last words Kuro heard her say were, "She wanted to stay on Zion, I'm old what difference did it make."

When Ravi had interviewed the people from the shuttle, much to his disappointment, he had found out that most of them had believed their age should exempt them from the evacuation of Zion. They had all waited as countless ships flew off with friends, neighbors, and family. Zenenet, Ravi had shared with the others, a slight whine in his voice, was one of only three people aboard the shuttle under the age of thirty.

Arden caught up with Kuro and Reigha, who was continuing to ask questions of the older pilot. The dark-haired man didn't seem to have a specific place he intended to search for the missing girl and most of the repairer's questions focused on this. Before they had made any decision, and before Reigha's tone had reach completely belligerent, the speakers buzzed to life.

"Kuro and Reigha report to the hanger."

Exasperated, she mumbled, "What now?"

"Reigha and Kuro report immediately to the hanger," it repeated more urgently.

The three ran all the way, doing their best not to knock anyone down in the hallways. They were met by Mr. Latzki, the head of GIS, at the end of the catwalk. He led them toward Ernn Laties without speaking, looking rather stern and grim, especially for the usually friendly face he always wore. There, a young teen was typing rapidly at the consol where the white goddess' repairer usually monitored what was happening inside the Ingrid. She looked up, her eyes watery, almost as if she was about to cry, and reported, "Sir, the Ingrid isn't responding."

"What's happening?" Kuro asked, not fully understanding what was going on.

"Someone's in the cockpit," Micha Latzki replied in a brusque tone.

"I haven't seen anyone come in since I've been here," the youngest of the repairers explained, again. She had told what she saw, first to her pilot partner, and retold the story to several others.

Reigha moved the girl aside before Kuro had questioned Micha, a change so gradual that it had gone unnoticed. Ernn Laties' repairer tries her entire repertoire of commands, even attempted four times to open the communication link, all without the desired result.

None other than Kuro had successfully linked within the White Goddess' cockpit. They were all afraid of the consequences if the Ingrid tried to synchronize with the person inside; whoever it was could suffer serious injuries. So far the only thing showing on the monitors was a steady heart rate.

"Come on Ernn Laties please," Reigha begged; she had picked up Kuro's attitude toward the goddess, calling her by name and not saying 'it' or 'the machine.'

"What's going on inside?"

"Nothing—yet," the repairer answered Micha Latzki.

Micha ordered Kuro to see what he could do. The pilot pulled at the hatch and asked quietly so no one could hear, "What are you doing Ernn Laties? Is this your answer?"

Reigha checked the screen and double checked, typed in a command and looked again, before anxiously shouting to the GIS head, "Mr. Latzki, quick."

Her tone spurred the aged man to join her quickly, without question.

"There are two distinct thought patterns," Reigha traced the lines on the screen with her finger for Micha's benefit, "where there wasn't even one before."

"There can't be two people in there," Kuro stated.

"Not with only one heart rate," Arden observe, looking over the repairer's shoulder he could read the monitor. "Unless it's…"

"She can't do that," the older pilot didn't need the other to finish his sentence to know what he meant.

"There's only one now," Reigha frowned. "What's going on?"

Her question was never answered. Kuro stepped back as the seal on the hatch slowly unlocked. Now that the door was fully opened a teenage girl walked out, looking neither alarmed nor pleased at what she saw and a little, almost drunkenly, unstable on her bare feet. Her long teal hair spread out on either side of her body and she gave a weak smile as she reached out to steady herself, resting her hand on the pilot's arm, "Kuro."

"Who is she?"

Taking in a quick view of the infirmary dress and her face, Arden answered Mr. Latzki, "Zenenet Asyri," tempted to add, 'at least I think she used to be.'

The girl shook her head and offered, "I am called Teela."

After instructing Arden and the unlucky repairer who had first noticed anything strange in Ernn Laties not to tell anyone what had happened until everything was certain, Mr. Latzki escorted Kuro, Reigha, and Teela to his office. He asked and questioned and theorized, trying to make sense of the situation, only managing to discover that she was willing to take Kuro's place as Ernn Laties' pilot. Teela assured him that this was what she wanted and that she was quite capable of doing it. The GIS head gave Teela some more suitable clothes and had her enter the cockpit again, where she easily moved the Ingrid within the hanger. Then he asked that they all rest until he could give them his decision.

Teela asked Kuro to direct her to the infirmary, having nothing else to do, Reigha followed. The teenage girl then led the old women who had stayed by Zenenet and had been pacing her pattern of ward-door, far wall, desk, for many hours to a corner of the room where they talked. The pilot and repairer couldn't hear what they said but could see the elderly lady relax and then smile; after a time the doctor shoed them from the infirmary.

All topics previously exhausted, the three had nothing more to talk about when they were left alone in the hall, leaving only a strained silence. Kuro led the way to a lounge where they could finally relax. Undisturbed the pilot soon drifted into a light sleep.

"All pilots please report to your Ingrids," the speaker blared.

On learned instinct Kuro and Reigha responded, leaving the lounge without noticing Teela behind them. Just as he was about to enter the cockpit a hand on the pilots shoulder stopped him. Wordlessly Teela stepped into the gelatinous substance taking Kuro's place and joining the battle.

Victim horde defeated, the other pilots, Ravi being the loudest, Kieren sincere, Whit graciously, and Arden with a big grin, congratulated Teela on her skill; accepting without caring to know everything, though not without unspoken curiosity.


End file.
